Somersault (2004)

Paula Joyce

PART ONE

Film Information

Directed by:             Cate Shortland

Writing Credits:             Cate Shortland

Produced By:             Anthony Anderson (executive producer)
            Jan Chapman (executive producer)

Cinematography By:             Robert Humphreys

Film Editing By:             Scott Gray

Casting By:            Nikki Barrett

Production Companies:

Distributors:

Classification:             MA
Running Time:            106 minutes
Genre:             Drama
Tagline:            Love can turn you upside down.
Box Office Figures:            AU $2,089,241
Release Dates:             Somersault was first released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on the 17th May 2004. It was then later released in Australia on the 19th June 2004 at the Sydney Film Festival and shown again on the 21st July 2004 at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was officially released in Australia on September 16th, 2004.  Other countries for release included: the USA, Canada, UK and Germany among many others.
Lead Actors 
Abbie Cornish             Heidi
Sam Worthington            Joe
Lynette Curran            Irene
Erik Thompson            Richard
Hollie Andrew            Bianca
Leah Purcell            Diane
Olivia Pigeot            Nicole
Blake Pittman            Karl

Awards:             Somersault was the winner of 13 ‘Australian Film Institute’ (AFI) Awards in 2004. The following awards included:

Bibliographical Details

Interviews with Filmmakers

http://www.electricshadows.com.au/film/2401409674

"The film is about intimacy and people's inner emotional life. We set out to make it as truthful and, I suppose, as fragile as we could." – "Cate Shortland

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1188951.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2005/03/11/somersault_     film_review_feature.shtml

“It's very much about gender and intimacy..." Cate Shortland

‘Australian Films 2004 Box Office Share’ in The Australian Film Commission, January 2005.

http://www.afc.gov.au/newsandevents/mediarelease/2005/release_350.asx

“Somersault's resonance with the audience was boosted by the intense work shopping of the script at Aurora. Extensive support for script development is crucial to a film's success and definitely a step in the right direction for our industry."- Jan Chapman, 2004

Reviews from Newspapers and Journals

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/15/1095221656757.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true
“Cate Shortland's Somersault is a film about touching and looking, connection and distance, and it's entirely appropriate, therefore, that it should be a visually striking, tactile work, a movie with a dreamlike quality that also has a fascination with immediate experience, with the texture of detail. At its centre is a teenage girl adrift.” – Hawker, 2004.

http://www.infilm.com.au/reviews/somersault.htm
“In these dire times for our local film industry, Australia needs movies like Somersault -- a richly detailed drama orientated towards brains rather than wallets, but still versatile enough to justify some kind of commercial appeal.” – Buckmaster 2004.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1429778,00.html

http://www.abc.net.au/tasmania/stories/s1219988.htm

Presence in Online Literature
The Internet is full of information on the movie Somersault, and this is no surprise considering it won 13 AMI awards after its release in 2004. Most of the information, found through search engines such as ‘google’ are commentary’s or reviews of the film, interviews with the director, Cate Shortland, and general film information. In general, the majority of reviews are from a favorable position, however there are also many negative commentary’s to be found. Some of the better websites include:

http://www.imdb.com

PART TWO
Critical Review

Synopsis
Love can turn you upside down! And so it did for the character of Heidi in Cate Shortland’s film Somersault. The big winner at last years Australian Film Institute Awards, Somersault revolves around the character of Heidi and her journey of self-discovery, as she learns about life love and sex and the difference between. Set in the icy cold landscape of Jindabyne, Southern New South Wales, Somersault describes the life of a teenager who turns to short lives sexual encounters for the physical and emotional contact she desires. Throughout the movie themes of family, friendship, lust and love, sexuality and class are emphasized however the film remains an honest and cleaverly depicts the coming of age plot.
Plot Summary
The narrative of Somersault follows the standard ‘coming of age plot with the runaway character of Heidi, played by Abbie Cornish on her travels throughout NSW after being caught ‘fooling around’ with her mother’s boyfriend. Feeling neglected and guilty, Heidi flees her home for Jindabyne in hope of meeting up with a previous one-night stand. This bleak setting enhanced by wonderful cinematography and lighting provides a chilly landscape in which the narrative takes place. It is in this mountainside town where Heidi meets the character of Joe (Sam Worthington), an emotionally and later sexually confused young man. Together the two characters develop a relationship, that, after a series of sexual and emotional encounters allows them both to discover what love really is and in turn, themselves. The character of Irene, the manager at the hotel in which Heidi stays, played by Lynette Curran also aids in Heidi’s emotional character development as she acts as the mother figure that she never had. In the closing stages of the film, all conflicts are resolved with Heidi, her mother, Joe and Irene and love is realized, all themes are tie together creatively and the movie ends with a sense of honesty and truthfulness of how real life is.
Critical Uptake
In terms of box office takings in Australia, Cate Shortland’s Somersault earned the second highest taking for the year 2004 with a total taking of over AUD $2 million, while earning over AUD$ 1.2 million in the first month. In terms of Industry recognition, Somersault was extremely popular and appreciated after taking a clean sweep and the 2004 Australian Film Industry Awards and coming home with a total of 13 awards including Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress and Best film, a large feat for a very modest budget film.  In terms of international successes, Somersault was selected to be previewed at the Cannes Film Festival in France in May 2004; even before its release in Australia. From examining several reviews, Somersault was generally accepted well by international critics, praising it for its wonderful acting, character development and cinematography, however many criticisms of the film were also apparent in such reviews, generally commenting on the movies slow pace and lack of a very detailed plot.
Source: http://www.afc.gov.au/newsandevents/mediarelease/2005/release_350.aspx

Filmography

Cate Shortland
Director - filmography
(2000s) (1990s)

  1. Somersault (2004)
  2. Bad Cop, Bad Cop (2002) TV Series
  3. MDA (2002) TV Series
  4. The Secret Life of Us (2001) TV Series
  5. Joy (2000)
  6. Flowergirl (1999)

Somersault is Cate Shortland’s most recent film in a line of several TV series, including the popular Australian soapie, The Secret Life of Us. In terms of experience Cate had only previously worked in two films, Joy in 2000 and Flowergirl in 1999, and both of these movies ran under 20 minutes. Somersault was then, Cate Shortland’s first feature film to be written and directed, and given such circumstances was a great success.

Jan Chapman - Producer  
  1. Suburban Mayhem (2006) (pre-production) (executive producer)
  2. Somersault(2004) (executive producer)
  3. Lantana(2001) (producer)
  4. Walk the Talk (2000) (producer)
  5. Holy Smoke (1999) (producer)
    ... aka Holy Smoke! (USA: video box title)
  6. Love Serenade (1996) (producer)
  7. "Naked: Stories of Men" (1996) TV Series (producer)
  8. The Piano (1993) (producer)
    ... aka Leçon de piano, La (France)
  9. The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992) (producer)
  10. Come in Spinner (1990) (TV) (producer)
  11. "The Last Resort" (1988) TV Series (producer)
  12. Perhaps Love (1987) (TV) (producer)
  13. Hunger(1986/I) (TV) (producer)
  14. "Dancing Daze" (1986) TV Series (producer)
  15. Two Friends(1986) (TV) (producer)
  16. Displaced Persons (1984) (TV) (producer)
  17. "Sweet and Sour" (1984) TV Series (producer)

Since working on Somersault, Jan Chapman has continued producing films and is currently in pre-production of her latest film Suburban Mayhemdue to be released in 2006. Jan Chapman has had extensive experience in producing Australian films such as the ever-popular The Piano and several TV series’.
Somersault and Genre
In terms of genre, Somersault has been classified under the ‘drama’ genre. This specific genre has been described as “serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature.”(Dirks, 2005) Clearly the film Somersault fits perfectly into this category with the main character of Heidi constantly being in conflict with a number of different forces, including her mother, Joe, Irene, Bianca and most importantly herself. However there are several other genres that audiences have argued the film falls under including: The Women’s Film, The Road Movie and the Coming of Age film. When looking at the movie under the genre of ‘The Women’s Film’ it can be viewed as a very liberating tale of self-discovery, whereby a young woman overcomes oppression and marginalisation and finds the difference between sex and love, to consequently become a stronger and smarter character. Somersault obviously encompasses elements of the road film aswell, and although it doesn’t revolve around a vehicle, the emotional journey of self discovery ultimately becomes more significant than her physical journey to Jindabyne and this is what helps her find her true self.

Somersault and Australian Cinema

The Australian film Industry has grown dramatically over the last few decades and is gaining credit on an international basis. In 2004 however there was a dramatic decrease in total box office takings from Australian films having declined to 11.9 million from 30.9 in 2003. IN comparison, in the same year the United States of America’s total takings were at $779.4million, while the United Kingdom’s takings were at $46.1 million. From such figures it is prominent why the Australian film industry is labeled as a medium sized industry in comparison to such other nations.
Source: http://www.afc.gov.au/downloads/policies/short%202004%20box%20office_final.pdf
As previously mentioned, to this date, Somersault has takena total of over AUD$2 million, the second highest earning feature film in Australia in 2004, a great feat for a movie made with a relatively small budget. In terms of the success of the film with reviewers and critics, after wining 13 AFI awards in the same year of its release it is needless to say the film was largely successful.

References

http://www.afc.gov.au/newsandevents/mediarelease/2005/release_350.aspx(Accessed April 20th, 2005)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1429778,00.html
(Accessed April 20th, 2005)

http://www.infilm.com.au/reviews/somersault.htm
(Accessed April 20th, 2005)

http://www.abc.net.au/tasmania/stories/s1219988.htm
(Accessed April 25th, 2005)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/15/1095221656757.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true (Accessed April 25th, 2005)

http://www.electricshadows.com.au/film/2401409674(Accessed April 19th, 2005)

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1188951.htm (Accessed April 25th, 2005)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2005/03/11/somersault_     film_review_feature.shtml (Accessed April 19th, 2005)

http://www.imdb.com (Accessed 1st April, 2005)

http://www.thezreview.co.uk/comingsoon/s/somersault.htm (accessed April 25th, 2005)